‘Those shrinks said I would be a serial killer’: Speaker highlights Prayer Breakfast

Speaker entertains at Prayer Breakfast

Scott Cousins, scousins@s24532.p831.sites.pressdns.com

Published
3:49 pm CDT, Monday, May 1, 2017

Entrepreneur Bob Williamson, the keynote speaker a the 2017 Congressional Prayer Breakfast, held Monday at Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, talks about his life, conversion and change from a potential “serial killer” to a “serial entrepreneur.” less

Entrepreneur Bob Williamson, the keynote speaker a the 2017 Congressional Prayer Breakfast, held Monday at Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, talks about his life, conversion and change from a potential ... more

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Entrepreneur Bob Williamson, the keynote speaker a the 2017 Congressional Prayer Breakfast, held Monday at Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, talks about his life, conversion and change from a potential “serial killer” to a “serial entrepreneur.” less

Entrepreneur Bob Williamson, the keynote speaker a the 2017 Congressional Prayer Breakfast, held Monday at Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, talks about his life, conversion and change from a potential ... more

‘Those shrinks said I would be a serial killer’: Speaker highlights Prayer Breakfast

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COLLINSVILLE — Getting into serious trouble after joining the military, Bob Williamson sat down with a group of psychiatrists who told him he was sociopath and would most likely end up a serial killer.

Instead, after eventually finding God and turning his life around, he became a “serial entrepreneur” instead, and later an author and speaker.

Williamson, who developed a number of successful businesses — including Horizon Software International, which revolutionized the institutional food service market — was the keynote speaker at the 2017 Congressional Prayer Breakfast, held Monday at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville.

This is the 19th year for the event, sponsored by the St. Louis-CBMC (Christian Business Men’s Committee).

U.S. Reps. John Shimkus, Rodney Davis and Mike Bost were on hand and gave brief talks.

The scripture reading was by Thomas W. Hough, CEO of Carrollton Bank. Prayers were made by Jennifer Schulz, vice president of Answer Midwest; SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook; and Robert Plummer, president of RP Lumber.

Then, Williamson took the stage and talked about his life. He detailed a dysfunctional childhood filled with abuse, which led to a life of crime.

“I hated everything and everybody, and I was bitter,” he said.

At one point he joined the military to see if he could straighten out, but within six months ended up in the stockade and facing the psychiatrists.

“I sat there for four or five hours and they interviewed me,” he said.

The next day, they brought him back and asked if he knew what a sociopath was.

“It means you don’t have a conscience, you have no remorse, and you are totally incapable of love,” he was told. “He said if I had to guess, you’re well on your way to being a serial killer.”

Williamson was told there was nothing he could do about it, and the only way he could change would be a miracle.

He was discharged and “did his best” to live up to their predictions. He went back to crime, becoming an addict and drug dealer New Orleans and eventually Atlanta.

Up to that point, all his experiences with Christians had been negative.

“I had knowledge that there was a God, I just didn’t like him,” Williamson said.

After a serious car accident, he was hospitalized and asked for books to read. One was a Bible that a nurse had let him borrow.

He began reading the Bible, mostly looking for ways to dispute it.

“I found Jesus Christ was nothing like I thought,” he said. “Everything he talked about was love. I was a grown man, 24 years old, and nobody in my life had ever told me they loved me.”

He kept reading, eventually reading Philippians 4:13.

“It said ‘I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me,’” he said. “That infuriated me.”

Williamson said he became angry and threw the Bible on the floor and told the nurse, “I have not done one good thing in my life.”

That upset the nurse, who reminded him that, “Jesus is God, He can do anything He wants.”

“If he can do that, he can change our sorry tail,” he said, recounting what she told him. “She didn’t say tail.”

He eventually straightened out his life, and went to work at a paint factory.

He noted that he was the lowest paid employee at the factory, but figured out a way to save the company $50,000 per year and was promoted. Within two years he had been promoted a number of times to management, then decided to start his own business.

Williamson talked about the meaning of success, saying that he finally decided it was “peace.”

“You can know happiness, but you can’t have it all the time,” he said. “Joy is forever.”

He also noted that a normal lifespan of 80 years is nothing compared to eternity.

“What you need to do is keep your eye on eternity, that’s where you’re going to spend the rest of your life.”

He said the only difference in his life was Jesus.

“Those shrinks said I would be a serial killer,” he said. “I turned out to be a serial entrepreneur.”